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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature.
Not only those Devos' which have a different theme everyday but also the ones
which revolve around a certain theme over a period of time, say a fortnight have
richly edified me. In fact, both styles have their own inherent advantages.
If the former style caters to the varying spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day,
the latter aims 'to ground' a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full
benefits of the deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the styles'
whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different facets of it which admittedly
is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style than the 'Varying topics' one.
For starters in the first month of January I would be dwelling on the theme of the
"Christian Journey", with the material being arranged in a Book-like format under which the pages
would be opened ( i,e..displayed on-line) on each succeeding day.
So here's wishing you a happy & an edifying read....
Suresh Manoharan
January 16th
The Spiritual warfare
The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim -Exodus 17:8
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Today in our on-going 'voyage' of comparing the journey of the emancipated lot from the Egyptian
bondage en-route to the 'Promised land' with that of the Christians in their heavenward journey,
we come to the subject of spiritual warfare.
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If we were to closely observe all the wars the Jews under the leadership of Moses fought whilst on their
way to the ‘Land flowing with milk and honey’, we would see that our Old testament counterparts to use
the modern-day parlance 'never fired the first bullet'. In other words, they started none of the wars,
they were engaged in, on the other hand, they fought only in self-defence as we would observe in the afore-reffered
scripture portion and also in other places such as
Numbers 21:1-3,
21-35. Now what lesson does this hold for
modern-day Christians, who are fighting a war of their own, albeit not a physical one but one of a spiritual kind,
with those invisible ones’ having no flesh and blood … the very forces of darkness
(Eph 6:12).
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While it would be in order to have all our arms of defence & offence in place as outlined in
Eph 6:11-17,
it would be all the more pertinent to examine our priorities for the Christian living once again before
we come to the subject of a spiritual war. WHY ARE WE LIVING OUR CHRISTIAN LIVES IN THE FIRST PLACE?
To please our redeemer God with a heart full of love
(II Cor 5:9) or to fight the devil? Kindly note,
dear friends, if we make pleasing God our primary motive in all areas' of life including our evangelistic
forays (rather than calling it as 'an attack on Satan's Kingdom', we are well advised to term it as
'Call of mercy to the Lost' which in fact it really is), then the devil stands automatically defeated.
For instance, if I stay away from pleasing my carnal desires or from the love of money, as I want to
please my Redeemer with a grateful heart, overflowing with love, the question of engaging Satan in a
battle does not arise at all! On the other hand, if I want to score a victory over Satan to get a few
vain brownie points, then a big spiritual defeat, is not far-off, because inherent in that attitude is
subtle pride which is a recipe for many a spiritual defeat. I can vouch-safe for this after 23 years of
my Christian life. Our Foe, in fact, salivates at the prospect of a misguided Christian taking him on
in a vain battle.
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So, we are well advised to toe the line of our Jewish counterparts in the wilderness 'of not inviting
the enemy to a fight' when it comes to our spiritual fight with our adversary of all ages. Tomorrow,
lets focus on yet another related subject, on how we should respond, when God in His sovereign wisdom
permits us to be 'tempted'.
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Prayer:
Father, in my spiritual walk with Thee, as inevitable as spiritual warfare is,
let me approach any spiritual challenge or battle, with the sole aim of pleasing
Thee & pleasing Thee alone. In Jesus' name. Amen
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